Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Acquires New Stake in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 365,995 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $15,350,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Lazard by 131.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 7,144 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 759,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,902,000 after buying an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,318,000 after acquiring an additional 18,444 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 167.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 26,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,252,000 after acquiring an additional 16,322 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 62.4% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 7,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $5,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,356,195.84. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.95% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.38.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $43.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.15. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.67 and a 12-month high of $58.75.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $736.29 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 98.04%.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.